Under My Wing
by itabitaboo
Summary: 7 year old Shion comes into 18 year old Nezumi's care by Rikiga's desperate request. Once they spend some time together, Nezumi finds that he might not actually mind a housemate. One-shot. Some coarse language.


**A/N: **This is set in a canon divergence AU. It was inspired by a drabble prompt that was given to me on my Nezumi roleplay blog **utaofthekokoro+tumblr+com **in which I was supposed to write about my muse babysitting the asker's muse. The only warning is some coarse language, which gives it a teen rating. Also, this is unbeta'd, so excuse the crappy spelling and grammar -_-

**Summary:** When the wall around No. 6 comes crumbling down and the worlds the city and West Block intermix, things don't as smoothly as intended. Despite the peace that they were trying to create, activists against the wall have unintentionally created sheer pandemonium and chaos erupts. It becomes a usual occurrence for people to simply disappear, all of the disappearances being primarily women residents of No. 6. Shion's mother becomes one such victim, leaving a 7 year old Shion to Rikiga's care. Rikiga cannot let Karan just disappear into thin so easily though, and there is only one person he can trust to care for Shion in his absence. There is only person in the world who he wholeheartedly knows will survive, and all he can do is hope that the 18 year old boy will ensure Shion's survival too.

* * *

**Under My Wing**

Nezumi sighed as he heard a loud knock on his door. He said nothing, not wanting company and deciding that whoever it was could just go away for all he cared. The knock came again, though, much louder this time.

"Nezumi!" a familiar voice called. "I know you're in there, you dirty rat! Open the door!"

"No thanks," Nezumi called back as casually as ever, continuing to contentedly read his book and ignore the man on the other side of his door.

"Nezumi!" Rikiga snapped, his voice thick with impatience. "Open up!"

Nezumi answered Rikiga with utter silence. He only associated with the old man in the first place because he sometimes offered Nezumi services the other could not refuse, what with the state that the now intermixed No. 6 and West Block had fallen into. The area was now called Krosis—because it was both a pitiful and sorry excuse for a home—though that was not the official ruling. Krosis was just what was being said on the streets. Even if Nezumi had to admit that he would not get by without Rikiga's help, that didn't mean that he wanted the geezer hanging around his life or anything. Rikiga reminded Nezumi of Inukashi, for they were both tolerated for their potential worth but thoroughly annoying nonetheless.

"I'll pay you," Rikiga promised, a clear desperacy to his tone that stuck out like a warning sign to Nezumi. Even if he was being offered money, it was always a sketchy thing to get involved where emotions lay. Emotional investment was dangerous, and Nezumi had half a mind to deny simply for the tone of Rikiga's voice. But he was compelled to entertain the idea nonetheless, and he rationalize that it was simply for the prospect of money.

"What do I have to do for it?" he asked skeptically.

"Just open up!" Rikiga demanded. "It's not a big deal. Really, it'd be a piece of cake for you. It's worth your time," he tried to persuade.

Nezumi contemplated for a moment, and then decided that it was worth at least hearing out. He closed his book and swung his legs over the edge of his bed to stand and carry himself across the small room he inhabited. He opened the door enough to reveal himself entirely but not so much that it would leave room for Rikiga to feel that he was being invited in. Because he wasn't. Rikiga's expression was one of poorly hidden worry and uncertainty, and that made Nezumi extremely suspicious. It was clear that Rikiga was desperately trying to shove this task off on Nezumi. So what was it? And why was he so worried about Nezumi saying no?

Nezumi caught a glimpse of something shifting behind Rikiga and looked down, locking gazes with the big, round, crimson eyes of a child no older than 9 by Nezumi's assumption. He furrowed his brows at the boy, noticing a hint of red on his face. The boy slipped further behind Rikiga's legs shyly, hiding the redness Nezumi had seen.

"What is this?" Nezumi asked, looking up at Rikiga to see him sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head.

"Uhhh..."

Nezumi's eye brows shot up as realization dawned on him. "No. No way. No fucking way, old man. What the hell are you thinking?"

"Just hear me out!" Rikiga pleaded quickly.

"No," Nezumi repeated, stepping back to shut the door.

Rikiga reached out to stop the door. "Nezumi, please! Do you remember Karan, the woman I've talked about once or twice?"

Nezumi paused and sighed in aggravation. "The woman you talk about incessantly, as if I've ever given two fucks? Yeah," he said dully.

Rikiga ignored that insensitive jab, or this was Nezumi. "Well, she's had a bit of a mishap," he informed, "and I promised when the wall first came down that I would always look after Shion no matter what if something were to happen to her."

"Shion?" Nezumi repeated, his eyes flicking back to the boy. He courageously met Nezumi's eyes for a whole 0.2 seconds before glancing away and hiding until just one eye poked out from behind Rikiga.

"This is Shion," Rikiga introduced. He looked down at Shion, his hand comfortingly rubbing the boy's shoulder. "Shion, this is Nezumi," he said gently. "He's gonna watch you for just a little bit while I go get your mom, okay?"

"What?" Nezumi hissed. "No, I"m not, Rikiga! If you got yourself into a mess, that's your own fault. Maybe you shouldn't have knocked her—"

"I didn't!" Rikiga cut in angrily. "He's not my child!"

"So then why the hell would you agree to take him!?" Nezumi asked confusedly.

Rikiga pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Because, Nezumi, I love her," he growled, closing his eyes and sighing to try to ease his mood. "I suppose you don't understand that though, do you?" He opened his eyes and looked down at Shion again, conflicting emotions brewing in his gaze as those innocent eyes looked back up at him. "I guess it was a fool's wish. You would never have been able to protect him anyway." And then, just like that, he turned and took Shion's hand to lead him away.

"I'll take him."

Rikiga stopped dead in his tracks, back still turned, and Nezumi questioned his sanity.

"But my fee won't be cheap."

Rikiga's arm lifted and wiped across his face before he straightened out his back and turned around again with only partially dry eyes. He nodded at Nezumi. "Of course." He guided Shion past Nezumi into the room when Nezumi stepped aside to allow him entry. Once inside, he knelt down before Shion to get on his level. "I'll be back soon, Shion, so don't worry, okay? I'll bring your mom with me too, alright?" Shion nodded and Rikiga sighed. "Be good, alright?" he requested, ruffling Shion's hair as he stood. He looked at Nezumi again with worried eyes, showing just how much he truly feared for Shion's safety.

Nezumi turned his empty eyes away, not wanting to witness that kind of emotion in Rikiga's gaze. "He'll be fine."

"He'll be fine," Rikiga repeated, trying to convince himself. He stepped into motion then, knowing he had to hurry up and go before he became too frantic to actually leave Shion's side. It was a gamble entrusting him to Nezumi, but Nezumi was the only one that could be trusted to survive anymore. And Shion had to survive.

For an awkward moment, Shion and Nezumi just traded gazes. And then, eventually, Nezumi asked, "Do you... talk?"

Shion nodded his head affirmatively, fiddling his fingers nervously in front of himself. "Okay," Nezumi said, "um..." He trailed off though, unsure of what the fuck to do. In the end, he decided to just give the boy some rules. "Don't leave the room suddenly," he commanded. "Don't touch anything unless I tell you that you can. Be quiet and just... don't... bother me." Shion looked down at the ground and nodded. "Sit there," Nezumi directed, pointing at the couch. Shion obeyed, staring at his lap.

Nezumi continued to watch him for a second before going back to his book on the bed. After a short while of reading in silence, with Shion hardly moving more than an inch from his spot on the couch, Nezumi began to doze off. Shion began to feel comfortable enough to shift only when his babysitter was half-asleep. It evolved from being able to lean back on the couch, to sitting in a more comfortable position, to laying down, to getting the nerve to get off the couch altogether. Nezumi seemed none the wiser of Shion's movement as his half-lidded eyes lazily roved over the page of the book that he was reading.

Shion was intrigued by these books surrounding him, so he crept toward the bookcase at the end of Nezumi's bed. His eyes never left Nezumi's frame all the while that he was creeping. After another short while, Shion was distracted completely by reading the different titles of the books, though some of them were too complicated for him to really decipher. He continued to try though, and he eventually found one that he really wanted to try reading. He didn't dare touch it though, not after Nezumi had instructed him not to, so he just stared at it longingly. But it quickly became too tempting to deny. Sure that Nezumi was out cold, Shion carefully took the book out from its spot and tip-toed back to his designated spot on the couch. He buried his nose in the book and was lost to the world within seconds. Thankfully, it was not beyond his reading level.

Minutes later, Nezumi woke for his short-lived nap, yawning grandly. When Shion heard this, he shoved the book under the cushion to hide the incriminating evidence, staring wide-eyed at Nezumi. Nezumi looked at him confusedly for a moment and then mumbled, "Jus sleep there, okay?" And then he rolled over and fell back asleep.

For the bulk of the night, Shion read his book quietly, stiffening up in fear every time Nezumi would shift in his sleep. He could not sleep, not a wink, for he was waiting for Rikiga to return. It was about half way through the night when Nezumi woke fully again, though Shion was so sleep-deprived by this point that his senses were completely off. He was barely able to keep reading the book, but he tried anyway to keep himself awake. When Nezumi's gaze landed on Shion, he was unable to suppress the tiniest of tiny, tiny, tiny smirks at the sight of the little boy nodding off.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, mainly because his own stomach had growled. Shion hadn't heard though. "Hey," Nezumi said louder, simply trying to catch the boy's attention.

Shion was startled, though, the book falling from his lap and his eyes instantly generating tears as he thought he was being scolded. He was too afraid to even apologize or explain his reaction to a confused Nezumi. And Nezumi, clueless as he was, had no idea how to respond, so he just avoided.

"Are you hungry?" Nezumi asked, standing on his feet. "That's what I asked but you didn't hear me."

Shion nodded his head timidly. Nezumi nodded back in acknowledgment and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right. Then... I'll cook." He couldn't starve the kid, after all. If he was gonna fall asleep, it'd better be with food in his stomach.

He started getting things together to make a pot of stew, noticing that Shion was completely silent. He expected that, since Shion hadn't spoken a word since arriving, but he had also expected at least the occasional turn of a page. Could Shion not read? Was he just staring at the pages maybe? He looked back over his shoulder to see Shion staring wide-eyed at the book on the floor, not making a move toward or away from it.

"You can't absorb the knowledge just by staring at the spine," Nezumi pointed out.

Shion lifted watery eyes to him, his bottom lip trembling. "Y-You told me n-not to t-touch," he said in a tiny, terrified voice.

Nezumi was sort of stunned by the boy's emotion. "Uh... you... you can touch that one," He assured. "Hell, you can have it," he added, waving a hand dismissively. "I've read every book in this room, and chances are that I've read it more than once. I don't need it."

It took Shion a moment to process these words. "R-Really?" he asked after a moment's pause. Nezumi nodded. "O-Okay," he said, a small smile creeping onto his lips and life seeping back into his exhausted eyes. "Thank you."

Nezumi nodded. "Sure. So... pick it up and read, okay? Entertain yourself."

Shion nodded more enthusiastically than he had thus far and quickly picked the book back up. They fell back into silence then, though this stretch felt more amicable and comfortable than the ones before. And Shion's body language was very different, as he was sitting more relaxed in the chair as he read. With Nezumi awake and about, Shion found that his exhaustion was almost entirely eliminated. Nezumi glanced at the analog clock near his bed, noting that it had been six and a half hours since Rikiga dropped Shion off.

After all the attention-demanding steps of the cooking process had been completed, Nezumi blankly watched Shion read as he stood near the soup to stir it and keep an eye on it. At one point, Shion giggled at something he was reading, which cleared Nezumi's glazed gaze. He became more aware of what he was doing and actively watched Shion react to the book then. A few moments later, the boy giggled again. And then he laughed whole-heartedly, his little cheeks reddening and a hand on his mouth to stifle the noise. It was impossible, Nezumi found, to not be warmed by the sound. Shion glanced up, a big smile stretched across his face, to see Nezumi staring back. He laughed, as if sharing the moment with Nezumi, and then turned back to his book. After that, Nezumi's attitude was a little lighter.

"How old are you, Shion?" Nezumi asked as they ate.

Shion glanced up and quietly answered, "Seven."

"Where are you from? Where is your mom?" Shion didn't answer that though. He just sighed miserably and stopped eating, which made Nezumi sort of regret asking. He asked a new question then. "What about your face? How'd you get that scar?"

"I dunno," Shion said after a short pause. "M-Mom said that they put something in me, and it tried to come out. B-But she killed it."

Nezumi mulled Shion's answer over in his head carefully. "They" put something in Shion and it tried to come out. That sounded an awful lot like a pandemic that began to break out within the walls of No. 6 not too long back, so that must be where Shion was from. Nezumi had never known a person to survive those parasite attacks though, so perhaps that was why his mother was missing. Some people speculated that the culprit behind the random disappearances was the government, and some believed it to be the work of an anarchist group.

If it were anarchists, then Karan would have just been an unlucky victim. But if it wasn't an anarchist group responsible for her disappearance, then it was the government. And Nezumi could see why the government would be after Shion, or at least be interested in him. He was unique. He was the only one to survive the parasite bees, as far as Nezumi knew. Surely, even with the collapse of No. 6, there was still some corruption left within the upper echelon that was trying to rebuild itself. He didn't think too much on it though, because he could see how his questions were affecting Shion. Instead, he decided to try and engage Shion in a lighter topic.

"Are you enjoying your book?" he asked. Shion nodded. "What had you laughing so hard?"

"W-Well..." Shion started, but he trailed off uncertainly.

"Mhm," Nezumi hummed, expressing interest and boosting Shion's confidence. Shion started in on a hesitant explanation of what was so funny about the book that he was reading. Nezumi interjected his own comments here and there until, by the end, Shion was so hyped up that he was standing on his chair reenacting the whole of what he'd read so far excitedly.

"And that's where I'm at now!" he finished up, stepping down from his chair and staring up at Nezumi's face brightly.

Nezumi nodded. "That used to be one of my favorite books as well," he informed.

Shion's eyes lit up. "Really~" And then, he blushed heavily and looked down at his empty bowl. "W-Would y-you..." He trailed off and retreated further into himself.

"What is it?" Nezumi asked, trying to sound at ease for fear that Shion would burst into tears if he wasn't careful with his tone.

"W-Will y-you read it w-with me?" Shion murmured nervously. Nezumi was floored by the request, so much so that he didn't know how to respond and that made Shion feel like he was being rejected. Shion jumped up from his chair and cried, "N-Nevermind!" And then he ran to the couch and face-dived onto the couch, burying his face in the cushions and quietly crying out of embarrassment. Nezumi just watched on in continued shock. When his wits finally came back to him, he decided that there was nothing wrong with reading with Shion. It was just like performing a show, right? Except he was just reading to one person and he wasn't getting paid. But, still, just like a show.

First, he picked up the dishes and set them aside for cleaning later, and then he walked over and picked Shion's book off the coffee table. He carried it to the bed, where he laid down in a comfortably reclined position. He glanced at Shion, who was still buried in the couch, and then casually began to read aloud from where Shion marked the page. He read it just like he was reading to himself until, afer some time, he felt a little dip in the bed at his side. He didn't look at Shion, not wanting to intimidate him or anything. He just kept on reading. Eventually, Shion shifted to lay down beside Nezumi. And then the next thing Nezumi knew, there was a little head of white hair resting on his shoulder.

He looked down at Shion, whose eyes were dropping dangerously low. "Go to sleep," he instructed.

Shion's eyes widened immediately and he shook his head fervently. "I want to keep reading."

Nezumi paused for a second before closing the book softly. "Shion, you're tired."

Shion's lower lip began to tremble and he buried his face in Nezumi's shoulder. "I c-can't until Rikiga comes b-back for me!"

And, for once in his life, Nezumi reacted to someone else's emotion on a personal level. He felt his heart clench, recognizing that he really hated to see Shion upset like this. He swallowed nervously, knowing that he wasn't practiced at these types of interactions and feeling unsure of what he should do. In the end, he had no idea what to say, so he just opened the book back up and kept on reading. He read chapter after chapter, continuing even after Shion had most certainly dozed off in case the boy woke up suddenly. He stopped only when he was entering into his second hour of reading and glanced down to see that Shion was clearly knocked out cold.

He carefully slid his shoulder out from under Shion's head and situated him on the pillow. He felt an emotion flourish in his chest, something he never felt in relation to other human beings-affection. A small smile graced his lips, despite the truths he knew about the situation. No matter who had taken Karan, one thing was for certain in either situation. Karan was not going to survive. And if she did, she was never going to return to her place with Shion again. Shion was Rikiga's now, permanently. But Rikiga had let love get the best of him and gone chasing Karan. This was why Nezumi had never gotten involved in these sorts of affairs. Emotions were messy. Rikiga was probably never going to return either, granted he actually found out how to find Karan. But Nezumi felt that he would, because his love would not let him rest until he found success. So, now, Shion was an orphan. Shion had no one. No... no, that wasn't true.

"You have me, Shion," Nezumi whispered.

He got off the bed and dressed himself in careful silence. The sun would be coming up now and he wanted to go out and get groceries so that he could feed Shion something more substantial for dinner tonight and maybe even make him something for breakfast, even if he never usually ate more than one meal a day. He paused, feeling a bit anxious about leaving Shion alone. In the end, he wrote a note and stuck it to Shion's forehead with a little bit of tape to be sure that Shion wouldn't panic and come after him.

Somehow, as he walked leisurely toward the market and watched the fading stars above his head, he found himself thinking it would be okay if Rikiga did not return because he could see this life becoming very comfortable for the both of them. Nezumi was no father. He was not fit to be. But this didn't feel like fathering. No, it felt more like Shion was, as cheesy as it sounded in his head, Nezumi's soulmate on some level. Perhaps it was not in the typical way that one thought of, but there was some connection that Nezumi had never felt to another person before in his life. No, Shion was not his child nor his charge nor his burden. Shion was just... _his_.


End file.
